1. Field of the Invention
Implementations of various technologies described herein generally relate to seismic data processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following descriptions and examples are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion within this section.
In a typical seismic survey, a plurality of seismic sources, such as explosives, vibrators, airguns or the like, may be sequentially activated at or near the surface of the earth to generate energy which may propagate into and through the earth. The seismic waves may be reflected back by geological formations within the earth. The resultant seismic wavefield may be sampled by a plurality of seismic sensors, such as geophones, hydrophones and the like. Each sensor may be configured to acquire seismic data at the sensor's location, normally in the form of a seismogram representing the value of some characteristic of the seismic wavefield against time. A seismogram may also be commonly known as a seismic trace. The acquired seismograms may be transmitted wirelessly or over electrical or optical cables to a recorder system. The recorder system may then store, analyze, and/or transmit the seismograms. This data may be used to detect the possible presence of hydrocarbons, changes in the subsurface and the like.
Seismograms may contain unwanted signals, or noise, as well as the desired seismic reflection signals. Unwanted signals may interfere with the interpretation of the seismic signals and degrade the quality of the subsurface images obtained by processing the recorded seismograms. It may therefore be desirable to suppress or attenuate the unwanted signal that may be present in the recorded seismograms during processing. Various techniques have been developed to process seismograms in an effort to amplify the seismic reflection signals and attenuate the unwanted signals. Various techniques have also been developed to manipulate travel times in seismograms. Deconvolution, which may also be referred to as spectral division, may be one such technique. After deconvolution, the seismic data may be recorded according to travel time difference rather than travel time.
Current techniques for attenuating unwanted signals often fail to adequately amplify the reflection signal and attenuate the unwanted signal. Accordingly, a need exists in the art for a new method for attenuating unwanted signals.